Legendary actor Morgan Freeman is not down with the “defund the police” movement.
What are the details?
In a recent interview, Freeman rejected the premise that police officers are bad people and that money needs to be shifted away from police departments.
“I’m not in the least bit for defunding the police,” Freeman said in an interview with Black Enterprise’s Selena Hill.
“Police work is, aside from all the negativity around it, it is very necessary for us to have them, and most of them are guys that are doing their job. They’re going about their day-to-day jobs,” Freeman added. “I know some policemen who would never even pull their guns, except in a range, that sort of thing.”
Freeman was promoting his new movie, “The Killing Of Kenneth Chamberlain,” for which he served as an executive producer. The movie chronicles the tragic real-life story of Chamberlain, who was killed by police in November 2011. Chamberlain, a New York resident, was a veteran of the Marine Corps.
Frankie Faison, who portrays Chamberlain in the film, appeared alongside Freeman in the interview, and affirmed Freeman’s perspective.
“Well, I agree with Morgan,” Faison told Hill. “I’m certainly not in favor of defunding the policemen.”
Both men, however, expressed the need to address police violence, and agreed that, as Faison said, their experience as wealthy, successful Hollywood personalities means “police treat you differently.”
Interestingly, Freeman and Faison expressed their view to an interviewer who supports the “defund the police” movement.
“To be clear, I’m an avid supporter of defunding police and the ideas behind the #AbolishThePolice movement,” Hill wrote on her Instagram post.
Anything else?
Freeman joined forces with a criminal justice professor to donate $1 million to the University of Mississippi earlier this year to establish the Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform.
“Look at the past year in our country – that sums it up,” Freeman said, USA Today reported. “It’s time we are equipping police officers with training and ensuring ‘law enforcement’ is not defined only as a gun and a stick. Policing should be about that phrase ‘To Serve’ found on most law enforcement vehicles.”
